The 2013-14 school year ended two weeks ago, but Springfield School District officials want parents to start planning for next year now.

School officials announced key dates Tuesday for registration and when students need to provide proof of physicals and immunizations for the 2014-15 school year.

Registration for elementary, middle and high schools is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 4. Middle and high school registration is also scheduled from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 5.

Parents will have to make sure their children have their immunizations and physicals much earlier than prior years.

Proof of physicals and immunizations for the upcoming year are now due by Aug. 29, the district announced Tuesday.

If documentation of a current immunization or physical is not provided by that day, students will be excluded from school beginning Sept. 2. Students will remain excluded until the required documentation is provided.

Students who attend a school with a balanced calendar — Graham Elementary School or Southern View Elementary — must provide immunization and physical exam documentation by Aug. 1. Students who fail to do so will be excluded from school beginning Aug. 4.

District officials are encouraging parents not to wait.

“Parents should call their doctor now to make an appointment for their child’s physical exam and immunizations,” Val Rogers, health services coordinator for District 186, said in a written statement. “The longer parents wait, the more difficult it will be to get an appointment before school begins in August.”

Before this upcoming year, District 186 students had until Oct. 15 to show proof of meeting the requirement of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The school board voted to move up the deadline after more than 500 students were held out of classes for one or more days this past year.

This school year was the first time the state health department required all students in sixth through 12th grades to show proof of receiving the combined Tdap vaccine for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, commonly called whooping cough.

Last year, only sixth- and ninth-graders were required to get the Tdap vaccine.

District 186 has partnered with Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and the Sangamon County Department of Public Health to host events where children can get their required immunizations and physicals.